Marion County, Indiana - Biographical sketches (2 of 3 so headed), 1884

Biographical sketches

1792, in Massachusetts, and early removed to Delaware, where he married Ruth Hobson, a native of Philadelphia, Pa. To this marriage were born children, - John, James, Thomas, Daniel, and Andrew. Mr. Schooley removed later to the State of Maryland, where he became a successful merchant. His son Thomas was born Feb. 22, 1830, in Cecil County, Md., and in early youth removed to Zanesville, Ohio, and in 1840 to Indianapolis, where his father died soon after the arrival of the family. Thomas remained until fifteen with his mother, and then sought employment as assistant to various farmers of Marion County, being meanwhile, for a brief time, a pupil of the Indianapolis Seminary. In 1851 he married Miss Rachel Blue, of the same county, whose only son, Frank, died July 15, 1869, at the age of fifteen. In 1852, Mr. Schooley having left* his wife at the home of her father, crossed the plains en route to California (where he remained three years), in Placer County, engaged in mining and the profitable business of hotel-keeping. Returning in 1855, he purchased a farm north of Indianapolis, and his wife having meanwhile died, he, in June, 1855, married Miss Esther, daughter of Madison Hume, one of the earliest Baptist clergymen in the county. Their children are Flora (Mrs. H. J. Brown) and Minnie. Mr. Schooley, in 1862, sold his farm and removed to Indianapolis, where he engaged in commercial pursuits. Having determined to return again to country life, he, in 1869, purchased his present home in Franklin township, and has since engaged in general farming and speculating. In politics he is a Republican, but not an active worker in the political field. The cause of education has ever found in him an earnest advocate and friend, and all ndeasures for the promotion of education receive his cordial encouragement. He is in religion a supporter of both the Methodist Episcopal and the Baptist Churches, Mrs. Schooley being a member of the latter church.

Martin S. Toon

MARTIN S. TOON. Henry Toon, the grandfather of Martin S., and a German by birth, resided in Kentucky. He was united in marriage to a Miss Bryant, and had children, among whom was John, a soldier of the war of 1812, and a native of Delaware, who removed with his parents to Kentucky when a youth, and during his lifetime engaged in the labor incident to a farmer's life. He married Malinda Stafford, of Kentucky, and had children, eleven in number, as follows: Letitia, Martin S., Drusilla, Henry, William G., Charity, Wesley, Lewis, Josiah, Elizabeth, and Dorcas, the latter of whom died in childhood ; seven of this number are still living. Martin S. was born on the 12th of June, 1815, in Owen County, Ky. His youth was, like that of most farmers' sons, passed in labor, with such opportunities of education as were afforded by the subscription schools of the period. Mr. Toon married Miss Mary Jane, daughter of James Davis, to whom were born two sons, - William H., who died while a soldier in . the war of the Rebellion, and John J., who served with credit during the whole conflict. He was again married in November, 1842, to Miss Mary Jane, daughter of John Ross, of Marion County, and has children, - Lewis C, Martin, Dorcas, Mary Anice, Melinda Alice, George G., Charles W., Richard 0., William S., and Lydia Jane. Mr. Toon during a short period resided in Indianapolis, and assisted in drawing the brick for the State-House, and at twenty-seven he rented a farm in Franklin township which for ten years he continued to cultivate. He then purchased his present home, embracing eighty acres, which has since been increased to two hundred and twenty acres, and which his son George G. assists in cultivating. He has, aside from his labors as a farmer, engaged in threshing wheat by machine, his own thresher having been the first in the township. Mr. Toon is in politics a Republican, but not active in the political field, preferring his daily routine of labor to the excitements of a public career. Both he and Mrs. Toon are members of the Baptist Church, in which he is a deacon.